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Jim Dueholm's avatar

The public's view of lawyers reminds me of an incident. My father was a Wisconsin dairy farmer who served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 1959 to 1979. He had four sons and professed to dislike lawyers. He made a crack against lawyers in an appearance before an Assembly committee in the mid 60s, prompting a committee staff lawyer to ask, "Mr. Dueholm, you're very critical of lawyers, but isn't it true you have a son going to Harvard Law School?" "That's true," Dad replied, "but my other sons turned out alright," and added "We haven't told his mother yet. She thinks he's a bookie in Nevada." Jim Dueholm

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Richard Vigilante's avatar

Love this. One of your best. BTW most other codes of prof "ethics" are also designed by the profession to protect the profession, journalist PE codes conspicuously. Just who is protected by the standard that confidential sources cannot be exposed? Not society, not the reader, not crime victims, not even (primarily) the source who lacking that standard could protect itself by simply choosing not to speak. It primarily protects journalists who use it widely to lie, and smear, and hype.

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